Boy's Best Friend
by Tuulikki
Summary: Akira's had a bad day. Luckily he runs across something golden, bouncy and eternally cheerful that helps make it better. But what about Sai, can he too be happy? The fluffy first chapter got a cracky continuation.
1. Boy's Best Friend

Titles. They are my bane. I guess I give up for now and just throw the fic here. Who cares of the title, anyway... but if anyone has good suggestions, I'm listening. xD

Disclaimer: stating the obvious... I don't own _Hikaru no go_.

* * *

**Boy's Best Friend**

One fine Thursday evening, after a seemingly normal day of school and go, Akira Touya was shuffling his way toward home. Of course, this clearly indicated that the day hadn't been as normal as one would have expected, something untoward must have happened. Even at the age of twelve, Akira Touya did not shuffle. When he walked, he walked briskly, though not too fast, and always with a good posture. The fact that he not only shuffled, but was well aware that he did so and simply didn't care, was rather unprecedented.

He stared blankly at the gray pavement as he went on, another hand limply holding the strap of his always spotless backpack, and, at times, when he saw a little stone on the pavement he gave it a good kick.

Five more minutes, and he'd be home. Dinner would be ready, and then he might play a game with his father, or maybe they'd discuss some professional game played on that day. Then he'd go to sleep, and the next day he'd wake up, play a game with his father, go to school and after school to the go salon, then back home for dinner and some more go, and then bed and then school and then…

He kicked a stone.

As it rolled onward on the pavement, something golden flashed by him after it. Akira stopped. A dog, possibly a golden retriever, was sniffing at the stone, tail whisking from side to side as it investigated the stone closely. For a moment Akira was afraid it was going to eat the stone, but then he realized the dog already had something in its mouth. As Akira stared at it, it raised its head and looked right back at him.

The boy glanced around. There were other people on the street, but none of them seemed to be missing a dog. And as he looked more closely, he realized the dog didn't have a collar.

"Did you run away?" he asked, and the dog wagged its tail. Akira shrugged and, deciding it wasn't his problem, walked on. The dog followed him, trotting energetically by his side. He stopped. "Look, where's you master?" He shooed with his hands. "Go! Go home. Find master."

The dog gave him a long look, head tilted. Then it dropped the object it had in its mouth: a somewhat ragged tennis ball. As Akira stared at the ball, confused, the dog raised its hopeful eyes up at him and barked.

"What?" Akira looked at the dog, then at the ball, and at the dog again. It had backed off a little, still staring at him eagerly, tail wagging wildly, begging for play. "I'm not going to touch _that_." He stared at the slobbered ball. Then he gave one more look at the dog, and kicked the ball as hard as he could. The dog bounced after it like a golden arrow, barking as it went.

"Silly thing," Akira muttered as he watched after it. Then he turned back toward home.

It didn't take long, though, before the dog dropped the ball again in front of his feet.

'Play!' its bark seemed to say. As he walked on, ignoring the ball, it didn't give up but bounced backward in front him, staring right at his eyes as if trying to hypnotize him. 'Let's play!' it barked again.

"I don't have time," Akira told it. "I need to go home for dinner."

The dog stopped, and for a moment Akira hoped he'd finally got rid of it. But then it was by his side again, it had simply gone to get the ball. He was decidedly not looking at the dog as he walked – maybe it would go away if he ignored it. But still, out of the corner of his eye he could see the dog watching him, and its big, sad dog eyes clearly reflected the heartbroken question, 'No play?'

Akira sighed. Stopped. Maybe he would have time to throw the stupid ball for the stupid dog a few times. Not here on the street, though. A silly animal like that, it would probably run right in front of a car after the ball.

"Come here," he said, and turned to a nearby park. Luckily there weren't that many people around. He didn't want anyone complain about him keeping his dog free. After all, it wasn't even his dog.

"Alright…" He placed his backpack on the ground and took gingerly the wet ball the dog had again dropped in front of him. The dog stared at it with such a great intensity that one would have imagined the old, dirty ball was the greatest treasure of the entire world. "There you go!" The moment the ball left his hand the dog was already bouncing after it, and in a short moment proudly trotted back with it.

"Okay, again?" Akira stretched his hand for the ball, but this time the dog didn't drop it. "Come now, if you want me to throw it, give it here." He attempted to take the ball from the dog's mouth, but it didn't let go. Tail wagging it pulled back.

Akira straightened his back, frowning. "What's this? Don't you want to play anymore? Fine…"

But right then the dog dropped the ball and looked up at him expectantly. Akira shrugged, bent for the ball – and the moment he almost touched it, the dog suddenly snatched it and jumped a few steps away.

"What, you…!" Akira glared at the dog. He could have sworn it was laughing at him, the obnoxious creature. "Give it here. Give," he said in the most commanding tone he could and made a move for the ball, but the dog avoided him nimbly.

He stopped and looked at it with narrowed eyes. "I see," he muttered. "So that's the kind of game you want to play. But I'll have you know that no mere dog will ever defeat me!"

And he jumped at the dog, this time getting a good hold of the ball.

…

Quite a long while later Akira was sitting underneath the park's trees, trying to catch his breath. The dog lay beside him, gnawing a stick, and he lazily rubbed its furry stomach. The tennis ball had been destroyed a long ago, and pieces of it were spread all over the park.

"You're pretty fun, in the end," he admitted, and the dog paused from the gnawing for a moment to shot him a glance.

He sighed and leaned his head against the tree, watching the sky. "Overall, this day really… sucked." That wasn't a word he normally used, but it seemed to describe the day pretty well. "Or… it started well enough but… you know, I was playing at my father's go salon, and then this boy came to challenge me." He looked at the dog and was surprised to see it had ceased gnawing the stick and was looking at him attentively.

"I was really excited," he went on. "I thought he might be good. He said he'd won the children's meijin tournament. Can you imagine! Best of a 2000 children. But…" his voice fell, and he dragged his knees to him, hugging them, "he wasn't that great. At all. I guess father's right in not letting me take part in those tournaments. I just had hoped…"

The dog sat up as he fell silent, and looked at him with a tilted head. It let out a small, questioning whine, and Akira smiled a little wryly and scratched its ears. "Never mind," he said. "I just thought it could have been fun. If there had been someone my age I could play with. Evenly, you know. Someone who could fight against me, and… someone… someone who could… be my friend…" His eyes fell to the ground and his hand to his lap. "I guess that was silly. And it's not like I needed a rival… or a friend… I've got my go, and that's…"

His sentence was left unfinished, as suddenly he had a wet dog tongue on his face. "Hey, wha… stop!" He rolled aside, laughing, and the dog jumped on him, barking and wagging its tail, and trying to lick his face again.

"You silly creature." Finally he managed to sit up, and he took a good hold at the scruff of the dog's neck and stared at it intently. "I'll let you know if I need to wash my face, thank you very much."

Once again the dog made a move toward his face, and he pulled back with a laugh. "You're the best, aren't you?" He took the stick the dog had abandoned and threw it in the air, watching with a smile how the dog jumped to catch it.

It probably wasn't a golden retriever, after all. Though he really didn't know much about dogs. But for one thing, it seemed too small. And its ears were funnily half-pricked. And there was this weird, long hair on its forehead, hanging in front of its eyes almost like bangs.

"I wonder what your name is," he muttered, as the dog brought the stick back to him. "You need a name. I can't just call you doggy…" He watched how the coat of the small happy creature shone in the sunlight, and smiled. "How about Hikaru?" he asked, and the dog barked. "Great!" he laughed. "Hikaru it is, then. I…" Suddenly he froze. Glanced at his watch. "Oh d…" He almost cursed, but caught himself just in time. "I'm late for dinner!"

He grasped his backpack and started running toward home. The dog ran after him, barking happily.

As he reached the front gate and dug out his keys he was really nervous. Would his parents be angry with him? How angry? He couldn't really tell, as nothing like this had ever happened before. For one thing, he was late, and for another… there was a green stain on the knee of his school uniform from the grass.

Even if she wouldn't be angry, mother would be displeased, he was sure of that.

"I'm home!" he shouted hesitantly as he entered.

"Finally!" came his mother's voice from the kitchen. "Where have you been?"

She appeared in the doorway, followed shortly by his father. Akira ran his fingers through his hair, abashed – was that a leaf in his hair? Oh d… drat. "I…" Then he saw how their expressions changed from strict to amazed to clearly… amused. Was his father in fact chuckling aloud? "I…" he tried again, confused, and picked another leaf from his hair, trying to hide it in his hands. Then he heard a bark behind him, and glancing back realized that Hikaru had followed him in. He looked at the dog and then at his parents.

"Er, this is Hikaru, and… he followed me home. Can I keep him?"

* * *

Heh, I gotta say I had fun with this one. And now I've got an idea for a relative crazy sequel, too... we'll see. It would involve Sai. ^^

But anyway, this fic... Yesterday I was walking home when I passed this old lady and her dog (a Yorkshire terrier, I think.) And when I say old, I mean old. Her back is bent at least 45 degrees (usually more), she always has two Nordic walking kinda sticks – not for sports but for support – and as she has no hand free for the leash, the dog is tied to her waist. But every day she walks her dog, I've seen them many times before.

Anyway, this kind of made me think about dogs in general, and how great it is she still has this dog as her companion (years ago, she used to have two of them...) and how she, despite of her age and condition, still takes the dog on a walks... and then, as there is this current blind go round and my mind's kind of preoccupied by Hikaru no go, I got the idea for this story. And had to write it, of course.


	2. Ghost's Best Friend?

...I think this is turning from fluff to a more cracky direction...

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**Ghost's Best Friend?**

Fujiwara no Sai was not a happy ghost.

He watched crossly the boy and dog he was following, and wondered if there wasn't someone somewhere having a good laugh at his expense right now. He would have never believed gods to have so sick sense of humor, though.

A girl walked by them, and the dog suddenly rushed to her, barking and wagging its tail, pulling the leash tight.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" the boy exclaimed and tried to pull the dog back, but the girl just laughed and bent down to pet it.

"It's alright, I love dogs," she said. "I've got one myself, a German shepherd. What's this one?" she asked, scratching the dog behind its ears. "A golden retriever?"

"I'm... not sure. Partly, maybe. I think he's some kind of a crossbred. His name is Hikaru."

"Hello, Hikaru!" The girl laughed as the dog tried to lick his face. "Yeah... you're a fine boy. My, he sure is lively!"

"Too lively, at times," the boy muttered. "Just caused a commotion at a flea market – you know, the one they're having at the park? He started barking at an old go board someone was selling, of all things!"

The girl laughed. "Silly dog!" She gave the dog one final pat, and went her way with a nod and a smile.

The boy and the dog both watched after her. Then the dog turned its head a little and barked.

"Oh, stop that!" The boy pulled the leash angrily. "Don't start barking at empty air, now!"

Sai watched the dog darkly. Long decades spent waiting for a chance to return to life again, and this was what he got? A dog. Gods' sense of humor truly left much to be desired.

...

Perhaps, Sai reflected later, being attached to the dog of this particular family wasn't such a bad thing, after all. He was just following the game being played by the son – Akira, as he had learned – and the father, and that game was enough to make him forget all about his misery.

That is, until Hikaru rushed to the go board, eager and energetic as always, sniffing the stones curiously, and Akira promptly removed the dog – and so also Sai – from the room.

"Bad dog!" Sai wailed, shaking his fan at the dog. "_Bad _dog! Now I can't watch the game anymore, and it's all your fault!"

The dog retreated into a corner, whining pitifully, and it made such a miserable sight, watching him with its sad dog eyes, ears drooping, that Sai's heart almost melted.

Almost. "Bad dog," he chided it once more, and turned away, looking almost as heartbroken as the dog.

...

A few days proved to Sai that something had to be done. A dog's a dog, he reasoned, and couldn't really be blamed for behaving according to its nature, but a man could be blamed, if he didn't train his dog properly.

Hikaru certainly was ready enough to sit and roll and do whatever as long as there was something yummy as a reward. Now, Sai could hardly give the dog any treats. But perhaps he would manage.

"Sit," he said firmly, and Hikaru looked at him with tilted head, curious. "_Sit!_" He did have a connection to this animal, right? He attempted to get across a picture of the dog sitting, and it being a _good dog _if it did sit, and sure enough, the dog sat down.

Sai smiled. "That's good. Now..."

A bird flew by the window, and Hikaru ran after it, barking.

Sai sighed. This would take some patience.

...

And patience was something Sai did have. He had waited so long for this chance – a silly dog would not be enough to ruin everything. And gradually, he did get through to Hikaru. When Akira and his father were playing, or when the man was replaying some old game, he made sure that the dog was in the room, close by, and that it was _quiet_. For the most time, this was beginning to work quite well.

Now, the greatest problem was that just watching was hardly enough – he wanted to play. Certainly, watching was quite _interesting_, at times altogether delightful, and the game clearly had evolved during the time he had been away and there was much for him to learn from these games, but... still. How could just watching be enough?

But... how could he play with a dog?

Akira was currently bent over the go board, trying to figure out a life-or-death problem his father had presented him. Advanced though it was, it hadn't taken Sai long to solve it.

"3-5," he muttered. "That's the key."

He glanced at Hikaru. The dog was sitting right next to him, as usual, for having gotten over its initial fright it seemed to enjoy being with the ghost. And in truth, Sai had to admit that no matter how annoying the dog could be he had grown attached to it as well. Emotionally attached, that is, and not just literally.

"If only you could speak," he said to the dog. "Then..." He got an idea. He gave the dog a long look, feeling a ripple of excitement. "Alright, Hikaru, listen well. I need you to bark."

The dog gave him a confused look. Wasn't barking a bad thing?

"You need to bark first three times – bark bark bark – and then five. You can do this, right? Come now! Bark bark bark!"

Hikaru barked, once, twice, and after a hesitating glance at Sai – is this really okay? – a third time.

"Good!" The ghost was so overjoyed he could barely stand still. "And now five times! One – two – three – four – five! That's it, now quiet."

Akira frowned at the dog. "Be quiet, Hikaru. I can't concentrate if you bark like that."

"Again!" Sai urged the confused dog on. "Do it again!"

Hikaru barked again, first three times, then five. "That's it!" Akira stood up and grasped the dog and took it out of the room. Then he closed the door.

"Don't worry about it," Sai assured the now completely bewildered dog. "Sit down here, by the door, and do it again."

Hikaru kept on barking on Sai's instruction. Three times and five times, many times over and over again. Finally the door opened, and the dog jumped up, tail wagging. Akira looked down at it incredulously. "3-5? Is that what you're saying?"

"Let's go in!" Sai exclaimed and rushed into the room. Hikaru followed him and sat down next to him by the go board.

"What is going on here?" came Touya-san's voice from somewhere. "Why is Hikaru barking so much?"

Akira had come to stand by the go board, and he watched the dog with a weird expression. "I think he's playing go, father."

...

This declaration, naturally, wasn't something Touya Kouyou would swallow easily. He gave his son another life-or-death problem, this one even harder, but sure enough, Hikaru was the one to bark out the correct move. The same repeated over and over again, even with problems hard enough to confuse pros. A few times he left the room, so that the dog wouldn't be able to sense anything about the correct answer from him, but still the dog was unerring.[1]

"A go playing dog," Akira stated in wonder. His father said nothing, as he truly didn't know what to say. "I wonder if I could play a game against him," Akira said thoughtfully. "But how? If he'd have to bark all his moves, that'd be quite... trying. Both for him and us."

Touya Kouyou shook his head. "I need to think about this," he just said and left the room.

A little later he returned with a small six times six go board. "Play on this. Less barking."

"Alright. Okay, Hikaru, back away a little. Sit." he pushed the dog that was curiously sniffing the small board. "Umm, you can have black, so... it's your move."

The game didn't take long on the small board. Hikaru won.

...

Later that day, Akira and his father had a long discussion about their strange foundling dog.

"So Hikaru hasn't ever shown any interest in go before?" Touya Kouyou asked his son.

Akira shook his head hesitantly. "Not in the beginning, at least. But recently he has been hanging around a lot, sitting by watching us play, hasn't he?"

"You're right about that... when do you think it began?"

Akira thought about it hard. "Oh, it has been a while. I'm not sure. But..." He remembered the incident at the flea market. Had Hikaru ever been following their games before that? He couldn't be quite sure, but he didn't think so. "I wonder what happened to that go board," he muttered.

"What go board?" his father asked.

"There was this flea market at the park last spring, and I walked through it with Hikaru. Someone was selling an old go board there, and Hikaru had a fit when he saw it. Barked like crazy, and somehow seemed totally freaked out. And he kept on barking at nothing at all the whole day."

"And this is when his interest in go began?"

"I'm not sure but I think so."

His father looked at the dog. "It is just a dog," he muttered. "But when I played against him, small board though it was, I couldn't help feeling..." He fell silent.

"Feeling what?" Akira asked.

He shook his head. Feeling such intensity a dog possibly couldn't possess, he thought, but didn't say it aloud. Unless it was the dog that was possessed... "Perhaps we need a..." He fell silent again, wondering if he really was going to say this aloud.

"Yes? Need what?"

"A medium," Touya Kouyou muttered.

...

And a medium did arrive. A large woman dressed in flowing gowns, she started oohing and aahing the moment she stepped in. "Yes, I can feel the spirits, they are here!"

Hikaru growled at her. Possibly because of her high-pitched voice, or maybe the colorful clothes that flapped around her when she whirled around, or then the musky perfume that followed her like a cloud – or, most likely, because of all these points put up together, Hikaru didn't want to go anywhere close to her.

"Alright, Hikaru," Sai coaxed the dog. "Be a good boy now. Let's try to talk with this, er, woman."

The dog growled again, but sat down.

"Yes, yes, I can see it," the woman said, hovering above the dog. "This animal is clearly possessed." She closed her eyes and raised her hands. "Spirits, do you hear me?" she chanted in a quivering voice.

"Yes," Sai said. "I hear you very well. My name is Fujiwara no Sai and..."

"Ah, there!" she exclaimed. "I've made contact!"

"Yes," Sai said. "As I was saying..."

"This is an old spirit indeed, and a restless one! I will try to achieve deeper contact and find out what it wants. Mmmmmm..."

"I just want to play go, that's all."

"Mmmmmm..."

"You see, a thousand years ago, I was a go player – the emperor's teacher, in fact – in Heian-kyo, and..."

"Ah, this is interesting." Finally the woman stopped her humming and opened her eyes. "This is the spirit of a young girl who in the 1930's wasted away in the grips of a horrible disease..."

"What?" Sai breathed, wide-eyed.

"She was an avid go player," the woman went on, "and so after her death she has been trying to find a way to play more..."

"Well, you've got that part right," Sai puffed. "But the rest! And I'm not a girl!"

"Nevertheless," the woman said, opening her eyes. "It can be dangerous to have a ghost around like this. They are unpredictable creatures indeed... So it is best for us to help this poor girl find peace and leave this world."

"What?" Sai exclaimed again. "I don't want to leave this world, I want to play go!"

"Would you help me prepare my things, so I can exorcise this spirit."

"No!" Sai yelled. "Do you hear me at all? Hey!" He waved his arms in front of the woman who was beginning to dig through her bag for things she needed. "Stop this! I don't want to be exorcised, I want to play go!"

The woman paid no attention to him. Huffing and puffing, Sai stood still a moment. Then he pointed a finger at her. "Hikaru! Get that woman out of here!"

The dog didn't need a second command. Growling it jumped at the woman, who fell backwards, screaming. Akira jumped between, and with his father's help managed to drag the dog back.

"Just what I meant!" the woman shrieked, stumbling up. "Dangerous, dangerous things!"

Hikaru was tied down, and all Sai could do was to follow helplessly the woman performing her exorcism. It turned out that he had no need to worry, though.

...

"Is it wrong of me to be relieved that the exorcism didn't work?" Akira muttered after the woman had left.

"No," his father said with a sigh. "Perhaps that wasn't such a good idea."

"Or perhaps," Akira stated, "that just wasn't such a good medium."

"Yes. And perhaps... we don't even need a medium."

"What do you mean?" Akira looked at his father curiously, but he just shook his head.

"Wait a moment." He left for a moment, and soon returned with a piece of paper. Akira looked at it curiously and saw that it had the hiragana table on it.

"So." Touya Kouyou sat down, and looked firmly toward the dog. No, a little aside of the dog, where he had earlier felt that... intensity? Presence? "What is your name?"

He placed his finger on the chart and moved it slowly from one syllable to another, stopping always when Hikaru barked.

"FU-JI..." Akira read over his shoulder. "WA-RA-NO-SA-I... Fujiwara no Sai."

**THE END**

* * *

An abrupt ending? I'm sorry. I just don't know where to go with this silly thing anymore. XD Anyway, they've made contact. I'm sure they figure something out, and Sai gets to play all the lovely go he wants.

No offense to mediums.

[1] The Clever Hans effect. There was once a horse called Clever Hans that seemed to be able to count. He'd answer the questions by tapping his hoof.

Bits and pieces from wikipedia:

_However, the horse got the right answer only when the questioner knew what the answer was, and the horse could see the questioner._

_Pfungst then proceeded to examine the behaviour of the questioner in detail, and showed that as the horse's taps approached the right answer, the questioner's posture and facial expression changed in ways that were consistent with an increase in tension, which was released when the horse made the final, correct tap. This provided a cue that the horse could use to tell it to stop tapping._

_Pfungst made an extremely significant observation. After he had become adept at giving Hans performances himself, and fully aware of the subtle cues which made them possible, he discovered that he would produce these cues involuntarily regardless of whether he wished to exhibit or suppress them._


End file.
